Famitsu have released 4 new gameplay videos of dark souls. Basically there are showing off some of the character classes you will get to play in this game.

First up is the sorcerer. I really like how they made the enemies just pancake on there backside if you are going in for a back stab or a back attack and by the way this guy does not know how to dodge properly.

Next up is the temple knight class

Nothing special here but its nice to see some new animations in the enemies attacks like the Round house kick one enemy does.

Next up is the warrior

This class was shown off in the initial dark souls 2 gameplay reveal still nice to see the environments in this game.

Finally the Dual Swordsman

I have mixed feelings about this class. sure its good to have faster swings and have the ability to dual wield but i wish it is not restricted to only 2 swords. it would be great if your character can dual wield 2 axes or 2 long swords but that might be pushing it.

Interesting. Looks like they went back to the Estus Flask cause weren't there earlier videos where they had some sort of Healing Drop Stone as the healing items instead of the Estus Flask? Does that imply firekeepers then? Hmmmm

Animation certainly seems more fluid and also perhaps a higher frame rate than before aswell on top of that. Might take a little getting used to but it thankfully does appear to be keeping pretty close to it's predecessors in terms of style and gameplay. Interesting to see dual wielding might be viable to deal more damage with dual wield specific attacks/combinations. I wonder if there are other weapon types that can be mixed together and used that way. Dark Souls/Demon's Souls were always pretty open with what you could wield. Insane combinations like dual shields for instance.

Nothing I've seen so far has grabbed me in the way Demon's or Dark Souls did. The environments and enemies just look kind of bland in comparison. I hope Shibuya and Tanimura can live up to Miyazaki's legacy of detailed worlds and rich, implicit lore, but so far I've not seen it yet. That said, they have until march to finish it, so who knows, it might still become great. I'll probably get it either way as Demon's and Dark are my two favourite games this generation. I just really hope they don't somehow pull a Sticker Star.

@demoskinos: They said even back when they first showed the game off that Estus flasks were still going it be in the game. It seems, from what I've heard, that the healing stones will still be there as an alternative means of healing that will be quicker to use but your health will recover more slowly than when using Estus. As for Firekeepers, who knows, Bonfires are definetly back though so I don't think it's much of a stretch to have someone tending them.

The thing in the videos I was personally the most hyped about was that they've fixed the spellcasting animations so that you're no longer casting blue light out of the middle of your stick. That was always kind of disappointing before.

I'm tempted to commit myself to playing dual swordsman-style, but even if I don't start out doing it I'm sure I will get there eventually. It's gonna be good, not having to worry about missing things since I know by now that I'll probably replay the game many times over.

@demoskinos: I started a run recently where I decided I wanted heavy everything! Heavy weapon, heavy shield, heavy armor.

First thing I did was make a beeline for the Ultra Greatsword in the graveyard and pumped up my STR enough to two-hand it. I had never used a Ultra Greatsword much before so it was suprising to me how much fun it was to just run around and flatten enemies. That shit was really heavy.

Not watching these because I want to be surprised by the game. I am really a bit worried that a new Dark Souls won't be as good because all the mystery will have gone that made the first game so enthralling. Hopefully it remains as dense and unexplained as the first/(second?)

Also really surprised that there is no next-gen versions. I remember hearing somewhere that the game director of DS1 is working on a new game - anyone know if this is true. Does it worry anyone about the potential quality of DS2 if true?

Im not so sure about the speed up gameplay ...seems way to fast :/ for Dark Souls.... aside from that I already love the temple knight costume , thats going to be my class and I do hope that we get all those sweet offensive miracles :D

I like the close range spell the sorcerer did, looked interesting; perhaps a way in which spellcasters can focus even more on magic without having to sacrifice weakness up close.

I usually go for a temple knight style character on my first playthrough. So I'll probably do that, would be cool to see some new miracle action. Although at the same time I like waiting for the surprise for when I actually play the game. I always seem to go for halberds and large weapons on my first playthrough too, got pretty good with the timings of those weapons.

My second will probably be a dexterity focused character like the dual-wielding dude, and perhaps with some sorcery if the classes are still as open as they were in the previous titles. Man I cannot wait for this game, still looks great!!!

Also I'm not too worried about the lore, I'm sure it'll still be there (as well as the incredible environments). It's not something they can really show off in short videos anyways, plus these have been focused on combat and classes so far. I loved that in both Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, and I too want it back. My trust is in the developers. This might be the first game I pre-order. :D

Not watching these because I want to be surprised by the game. I am really a bit worried that a new Dark Souls won't be as good because all the mystery will have gone that made the first game so enthralling. Hopefully it remains as dense and unexplained as the first/(second?)

Also really surprised that there is no next-gen versions. I remember hearing somewhere that the game director of DS1 is working on a new game - anyone know if this is true. Does it worry anyone about the potential quality of DS2 if true?

It probably worries someone, not me though. I chalk there not being any next-gen versions up to the fact that the series is a middle tier one that has just started to gain momentum, so putting resoures into making it for new systems with a low install base might not be among the developer's main priorities. I don't know a lot about how these things work, but if they're already making it for PS3, 360 and PC then maybe that's all they can (or want to) do for now. For what it's worth there's no WiiU version either.

Not watching these because I want to be surprised by the game. I am really a bit worried that a new Dark Souls won't be as good because all the mystery will have gone that made the first game so enthralling. Hopefully it remains as dense and unexplained as the first/(second?)

Also really surprised that there is no next-gen versions. I remember hearing somewhere that the game director of DS1 is working on a new game - anyone know if this is true. Does it worry anyone about the potential quality of DS2 if true?

It probably worries someone, not me though. I chalk there not being any next-gen versions up to the fact that the series is a middle tier one that has just started to gain momentum, so putting resoures into making it for new systems with a low install base might not be among the developer's main priorities. I don't know a lot about how these things work, but if they're already making it for PS3, 360 and PC then maybe that's all they can (or want to) do for now. For what it's worth there's no WiiU version either.

I get that they wouldn't do a version exclusively for next-gen, but maybe a split-gen version? Whatever I am interested in a new game whatever platform it is on but Dark Souls seemed to really suffer from performance issues (at least on my 360) so it could do with some extra horsepower.

But what do I know, I am sure they costed it out and maybe it is not the sort of thing a relatively small dev can afford to do, but with how popular DS was and the way it has made it out onto the stages at E3 you might have hoped that one of the platform-holders might have forked out and given them some help to get a version ready for next-gen. I would have thought it would be quite a big coup for either MS or Sony to say 'we've got Dark Souls2 for PS4 or One' especially as going for the 'core' (grrrr hate that term) gamer seem to be the Big Plays at the moment.